Spirit-Song
by aina adele
Summary: An AU Kataang story set in a medieval-esque universe full of forests, mountains, and oppressive fire-bending nobility.


This is my first ever fanfic so be forewarned: it might suck.

Anyway, as I said I've never written any fanfiction before (just read stuff) and I know Avatar ended five years ago, but I had this idea for an AU Avatar story and I just had to write it. It's set in a medieval-esque universe but I plan to gloss over many of the more brutal and disgusting truths of medieval times and add some aspects that weren't there. Bending is the same, the characters are the same, and it will follow the closely to the plotline of the show. And yes it will be heavy with Kataang. So with that said here is Chapter 1: R+R!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender

P. S. Feel free to criticize-I have thick skin.

P.P.S In this Katara is 16, Aang 14, Sokka 17, and so on

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**Spirit-Song: Chapter 1**

The sun slid down in the sky, casting long shadows between the trees and silhouetting two hooded figures on horseback slowly picking their way through a winter forest. Snow blanketed the ground and muffled the footsteps of the riders as they weaved in and out of the trees, silent. Suddenly the larger of the two figures stopped, slid off his horse, and pointed excitedly at something in the snow.

"Katara!" he said, "Check this out!"

"What Sokka?" she asked, dismounting to join her brother in the snow.

"Fresh deer tracks! Mmmm... venison, I can already smell it cooking!"

Katara rolled her eyes.

They both tied their mounts to a nearby tree and slipped their packs off the horses' backs and onto their own. Unlike most, the siblings hunted on foot. Sokka readied his bow and glanced back at his sister. She nodded, and they walked on.

The sun sank lower in the sky and the world slowly turned to gray, but still they walked on. Snow started to fall heavily, almost covering the tracks, but still they walked on. Finally they spotted a stag nibbling at some pine bark, completely oblivious to their presence. Sokka frantically gestured for his sister to stay back, jumped behind a bush, and took aim.

Katara sighed and glanced around. The snow was still falling heavily. Katara pointed her hand at some snowflakes and they froze in midair. She smiled. She started to move the flakes around, putting more and more snow under her control as she did so. She pulled a ribbon of snow from the sky and wrapped it around herself. Soon Katara was her own whirlwind of snow, laughing and spinning as she danced in a world of white.

Sokka glanced back at her, irritated. "Be quiet!" he whispered, "I'm trying to catch dinner!" He turned back to his prey, waiting as it inched into range…

Suddenly Katara heard something. She froze and let her snow ribbon collapse.. She pricked her ears and listened.

Sokka pulled back on his bowstring, the deer took another step forward and he finally had a clear shot. "Come on baby don't fail me now…" he muttered…

"Sokka!"

The stag bolted and Sokka's arrow sailed into the snow where it had been only moments before. He turned on Katara, furious.

"Sokka do you hear it?" Katara asked, blue eyes wide.

"If by it you mean my stomach growling because of yet another night without dinner thanks to you, then yeah I hear it!"

"No," she said. "That music."

"What music?" Sokka asked, irritable.

She paused, listening. "That," she said, and without further ado she took off running.

"Katara!" Sokka yelled. "Katara come back!" He groaned and raced after her.

He burst into a clearing and nearly crashed into his sister.

"There you are! We need to get going, it's almost sunset, our horses are still tied about two miles away and Spirits know we don't want to be stuck in these woods at night…"

Katara shushed him, putting a hand to his mouth. "Listen," she whispered.

Sokka scowled but was silent. At first he didn't notice anything but then he heard it.

It was just a couple of chords, notes really, strung together, nothing that could be called a melody, but it was haunting neverless. It was sad, eerie, and beautiful, hauntingly beautiful. Sokka shivered and glanced in the direction the music was coming from. He saw a huge cave, tunnel really, made completely of ice. His jaw dropped, how had he not noticed that before. As he stared into the depths of the tunnel he could feel something pulling at him, drawing him in. He shook his head to clear it, and pulled on Katara's shoulder.

"Come sis," he said. "We need to get going…" Katara brushed his hand off and walked resolutely into the ice cave. "Katara…" Sokka goaned, then shouldered his bow and drew his sword, it would be much more helpful in a close quarters fight. Then he ran into the cave.

Catching up with Katara, Sokka looked around uncertainly, "What is this place?" He asked.

Katara paused. "I think… I think it's a forest completely entombed in ice."

"What?" Sokka said, "That can't be."

Katara paused and stared deep into the ice. "Look, there are trees in there." Sokka tightened his grip on his sword. This was weird. Way weird.

The siblings walked slowly through the frozen forest, following the sound of the music. As they went the ground seemed to slope down more and more, as if they were drawing closer and closer to the heart of the earth. Yet it wasn't dark, instead the ice seemed to glow with an eerie whitish blue light. The siblings started to draw closer together, uneasy in this strange and otherworldly place.

They rounded and bend and gasped.

"There's a person in there!" Katara said. There was indeed a person seemingly frozen behind the wall off ice. He was sitting cross-legged, suspended and frozen a few feet off the cave floor. Katara pulled away from Sokka and walked forward. "The music is coming from him…" she whispered. "Maybe he's a spirit." She walked up to the figure, her nose was less than a centimeter from the ice and her breath created mist on it's surface. This close it was easy to tell that the figure was just a boy, a thin bald teenager who looked like he was only about Katara's age, younger even. He sat with his eyes closed and only the smallest movement in his chest revealed that he was alive. He looks so peaceful…Katara thought. Hardly knowing what she was doing, she reached out a hand…

"Katara get away from it!" yelled Sokka.

...and placed it on the surface of the ice.

The boy opened his eyes and they and his tattoos began to glow with a bright blue-white light.

Then the ice exploded.

Katara made a dive for her brother and they wrapped their arms around each other as water came gushing from the walls towards them. For a moment everything was roaring sounds and blackness and tumbling and cold and Sokka slowly being wrenched from her grasp but then the water subsided and Katara could breathe again. Drenched in ice-cold water she looked up and saw the boy from the ice place a hand to his forehead and collapse in the snow.

She raced out to catch him.

Across the forest a prince felt the explosion while setting up camp.

"What was that Uncle Iroh?" he asked, kneeling as the ground shook and heaved.

"How should I know Prince Zuko?" his uncle complained, eating some stew while the servants set up the tents. "What am I, a mind-reader?"

Zuko scoffed. "That doesn't make any sense, how would a mind reader know what that explosion was? I think it is the Avatar. Only he could have that much power."

Iroh sighed. "It might just be an earthquake, not every natural phenomenon has something to do with the Avatar nephew."

"I was him, it has to be him."

"Zuko… Our family has searched for generations and no one has found the avatar. What makes you so sure you will? What makes you so sure he even exists?"

"He has to exist, and for the sake of restoring my throne I have to capture him. You'll see, we'll find that explosion site and then you'll see." Zuko started to gather supplies, repack as though to go out on a trek through the woods.

"Hold on, hold on," Iroh stood up. "you can't go now, it's dark out there. You don't want to be alone in this forest after dark. You don't want to be in the forest after dark with company! It's dangerous out there!"

Zuko sighed, his uncle was right, even he wasn't that stupid. He sat down. "Fine. But we leave at dawn."

"Of course nephew, whatever makes you happy." Iroh held out a bowl. "Stew?"

"What are you doing?" Sokka yelled after his sister. "That thing's dangerous!"

Katara cradled the unconscious boy's head in her arms. Without the ice between them she could see that the boy was indeed younger than her, but not by much. He was dressed simply in a simple tunic, pants, cloak, and boots. He was thin and muscular, with a round face and shaved head. What about him fascinated Katara most however, were his tattoos. On his hands and forehead were the ends of light blue arrows that snaked out from under his collar, his sleeves. Impulsively she reached out and traced the tattoo on his head. The boy shivered and his face contorted into a pained expression. Katara pulled back and drew him to her. She needed to protect this life. She didn't know why, but she knew he had to be saved. She stood up and glanced around at the newly drenched, twilit forest.

"Sokka help me carry him!" She called out to her brother.

"What?" Sokka glared at her. "You want to take that thing with us?"

"He's not a thing," she said, dragging the boy through the snow towards Sokka, "He's a person, and yes, I am taking him."

"You're kidding right? That thing almost blew us up!"

"While he didn't, did he? Come on Sokka, I need your help or we will never make back before nightfall."

Sokka struggled with himself for a little bit, then reluctantly walked over to help out his sister. "Fine you take the legs, I'll take the arms and we can carry him between us."

"Grab that staff thing too!" Katara gestured to a wooden pole that had been frozen in the ice as well. "He might want it when he wakes up."

Sokka sighed and grabbed the aforementioned tool and stuck it under his quiver strap, where it stuck out awkwardly but was secure nonetheless.

"Thanks Sokka!" Katara beamed. He grunted and the siblings slowly made their way back to the horses, the boy strung out between them.

They got to their horses just before dusk.

"Chucky!" Sokka yelled, dropping the boy in the snow as he ran out to greet his mare, who nibbled his hair affectionately.

"We need to make camp quickly," Katara said, absentmindedly stroking the nose of her gray mare, "There is no way we can make it home now."

Sokka nodded. "I'll get a fire going and you set up the tent. We'll take turns staying on watch and sleeping."

Katara quickly set up the tent and gently laid the unconscious boy inside of it. She pulled a few blankets over him and wrapped one around herself, then walked out to where Sokka had started a fire. He looked up at her. "I'll take first watch, I mean, I doubt I'd be able to get much sleep anyway." Katara nodded, she understood. The siblings had been stranded in the woods after dark before but they had always had the time to find shelter in a cave or were with other people, out here alone in the open…

Beyond the cackling flames shadows stretched and danced and the night pressed in on them with whispers and distant far off howls.

Katara shivered.

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And there you have it! Chapter 1!

A couple notes- If I put Appa in this he'll end up being a horse that Aang acquires sometime on his journey. I just wanted the gaang to travel on horseback rather than fly. Any thoughts on this?

Also in this Sokka is a very capable fighter and hunter but again, I haven't decided if Katara is a master waterbender or not. Opinions please.

Again feel free to criticize, It's my first fanfic and I need all the input I can get.

Ta-ta for now,

aina adele


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